15-Year Anniversary Celebrations of Senior Citizen Program

The Senior Citizen Program (SCP) recently
celebrated its 15th anniversary, having evolved from a
20-member organization of elders into one with more
than 500 active members.

SCP started in 1996, the year of the Atlanta Olympics.
“Today, we are celebrating our 15th Anniversary, averaging
approximately an event per month for these past 15
years—that’s over 150 events, ” said Raj Razdan, Founding-
Executive Director of SCP.

“In the years past, we have seen many different lifestyles
of senior citizens, both positive and negative. ...
[M]onthly SCP programs help make the lives of elderly
people both pleasant and fulfilling,” said one of the lifetime
sponsors, Surinder Malhotra.

Celebrations began with the cutting of the cake by
beloved mother-figures and role models Lilyben Desai,
Shanti Nanda, and Sushila Gupta, followed by entertainment.
Raneez Collection presented a Fashion Show with
seniors along with their granddaughters as models. Live music was coordinated by Sanjay
Thakkar and Navin Tyagi.

[Summary: ‘We seniors are fortunate
to be here in this program,
where we are tenderly loved and
cared for by the selfless service of
the SCP team/volunteers. We seniors
reciprocate with our blessings
to you all.’]

Photo: The fashion show.

Other prominent senior members
of the SCP also paid similar
heartfelt tributes. Ashok Dave, a retired
Indian Air Force officer with a great sense of humor,
was serious for a change, commenting, “Just as you all
are looking after the elders, may your children grow up
and take care of you in your sunset years while you enjoy
your life to the fullest. Blessings!” Vinod Patel, Sharad
Shah, Dr. Samar Mitra, Hiramani Gupta, and Shakuntala
Ahuja echoed similar compliments and tributes, with
anecdotes from their own life experiences.

Seniors Kusum Sinha, Anjana Das Shah, and Krishna
Narula recited poems. Lakshmikant Pandya performed
an amusing and riveting mime act, “Gangaram in the
Garden.” Kaushi Shah captivated the audience with her
solo act of a pagli (mad woman) driven crazy by the rat
race of the materialistic world. Asima Gauba, Prachi Patel,
and Anjali Nair had the audience clapping and tapping
their feet when they danced to a popular all-time hit pop
number, “eena meena deeka.” This was followed by a Punjabi
giddha (folk dance) led by Chinti
Bali and her team (Poonam Datta,
Amarjit Kaur, Santosh Shailly, Prem
Khanna, Balwinder Kaur, Gurpreet
Kaur) of seniors and youth. Atlanta
singers Beena Kumar, Rekha Pallath,
Amit Dave, Navin Tyagi, and Pankaj
Bhargava enthralled the audience
with old Bollywood songs.

Guest speaker Greg Pridgeon,
former Atlanta Councilman, now
Chief of Staff of Rockdale County,
noted, “You all, including our mentors,
have interacted with each other
and changed so many lives.”

“SCP programs help us seniors
to be with our friends and family
more often, to enjoy lunches,
fashions shows, movies, music
programs, spiritual discourses, celebrating
..., availing of health fairs,
etc., and above all the fraternity.
SCP provides a platform to the seniors to share their life
experiences and to display their talents in music, dance,
poetry, art and hearty laughs,” said one of the popular
and active seniors, Mansukhbhai Shroff .

Executive Director Raj Razdan averred, “SCP will
continue to host programs to enrich the quality of Senior
Citizen’s lives. It will aim at helping seniors play an
active and positive role in society, and in facing problems
of loneliness and isolation, keeping contact with
their offspring and grandchildren, transport, housing,
health, communications, social security benefits, etc. It
is time for the community to realize that our Senior Citizens
are not a burden but assets with vast experience
and ocean of love.”

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